Terrapin Hop Karma Brown IPA
I can’t imagine the brewing process related to this beer. I mean, mixing a brown ale and an IPA is probably fairly painless, but tweaking it just right to get the best elements of both to work cohesively must have been a nightmare.
Combining 5 hop varieties and 7 different malts, Terrapin Brewing’s Hop Karma Brown IPA must have been a labor of love as it’s a wonderful blend of the two styles, highlighting and balancing the distinctive characteristics of both wonderfully.
Appearance
Hop Karma pours a chestnut brown with a large, light brown head. It certainly doesn’t look like an IPA.
Aroma
This beer confuses my brain (which, honestly, isn’t really all that hard to do) with a mixture of earthy, piny hops, citrus notes, caramel and a hint of nuts in the tail end.
Taste
Right away you get a blend of nuts and hops as a caramel sweetness comes and goes while a rising, yet moderate hop bitterness arrives toward the finish. There’s alight roast on the malts that goes mighty well with the mildly spicy hop character. This brew is a unique blend of flavors I haven’t yet experienced with a beer.
Overall
Again, my brain didn’t want to think of this beer as an IPA. It’s just too brown for it to even be close to one, yet there are the hops — front and center. Hop Karma is a unique beer that is actually quite tasty and enjoyable. That all said, if I want a brown ale, I’m going to buy one. The same goes for an IPA. I’m not sure that I could really sit down for a couple bottles of this beer, but I’m certainly glad to have tried it at least once.
Rating:4/5